Three Sided Coin
by GordyLuv
Summary: Midna and Link have a chance to be reunited over three years after the battle, thanks to the resurfacing of a second Twilight Mirror. But this one is different from the first, so what happens when the pair and Colin end up in Clock Town? T to be safe.
1. Dreams and Little Warriors

**AN: Obviously I don't own Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, any of the characters, (except my OCs, which thus far have yet to be any more than Sirona, you'll meet her soon enough). I won't be putting a disclaimer on every chapter, I honestly think that if you continue to read my fanfic, you can remember that I don't own the stuff, right? Right.**

**I will try to keep up with the updates. It should be fairly easy, since I write all of this on my phone. I have an application that lets me write all this stuff, then I email it to myself and edit everything. And I write _a lot_. And speaking of editing, I am my own beta, so I don't catch everything. Don't kill me if I spell something wrong, because chances are, I just didn't catch it when editing.**

**-M-**

I genuinely wanted him to be safe. I'd used him, and perhaps, in a way, he'd used me too. Both of us have always done so for the sake of others though. Me for my kingdom, him for his own world, of which is ruled by Princess Zelda. And it has been a long road home for me, and neither of us will ever be the same thanks to this journey.

But he made it through. He slayed Ganondorf, saved Hyrule.

And yet, I feel sad, because I must depart. My true form has returned, and I have to go back to my people. It pains me, because, in all honesty, within this short time we've spent together, trying to save both of our worlds, I believe I've fallen in love with Link, the green clad warrior who battled countless enemies and saved my life, among others.

I give my little speech, and descend into twilight, towards my home, towards the Twili that make up the population of my kingdom. The mirror is broken. Our worlds are cut off. The look on his face as I leave tempts me to turn around and stay in this world, but such an act would be selfish.

**-M-**

Three years and several months since that day, and this world has been horribly boring. My citizens stand around all day, I am left with nothing to do.

I sigh, heaving myself off the throne. I hate this room, partially because Link almost got himself killed for, what, the seventh or eight time, here.

Exiting the throne room and soon the palace altogether, I greet a fellow Twili who is significantly taller than myself. He says nothing, only moans a half hearted greeting. My people have noticed my sadness, though I've done my best to hide it. I must not be a very good actress.

The Twili man points to the oddly shaped hill, where the spinning circles reflected by the Mirror of Twilight have long since disappeared. But they slowly fade back into existence, their spinning beginning when their glowing forms are complete. I stare in awe, shocked by what is currently happening.

As I regain control of my petrified body, I lift up my long skirt and set to a run, my robe flowing behind me, the hood off of my head, revealing more of my flame red hair.

And then he comes through. Link, as I remember him. Tiny squares of black trailed in, forming him from the ground up. I run, but in seconds my body is suspended in air, and I can tell my bones are shifting, skin stretching and constricting to fit the muscles and bone. I glance down to see the body I bore while on the quest Link and I shared to save both our worlds.

He walks towards me, but halts when he sees what is happening.

He turns; he runs, steadily back to the circle, fleeing this world after shooting me a last disgusted glance.

**-M-**

I shoot up out of my bed. Just a dream. No, a nightmare. I should have known it was, for Link would never do such a thing. But I'd always feared he would.

Even when I had used him, treated him so bitterly, he never feared me, or got angry. My appearance didn't disgust him as it did others.

Now I'm back to normal, yet I'll never see him again, never have a chance. I had never told him of my feelings, for fear he'd run away even faster when he no longer needed my help, or when I no longer needed his.

**-L-**

Never again.

Next time Bo says to leap in front of a charging ram, definitely NOT. Giant aquatic worms and man eating dragons, I can handle, but after so much fighting, one gets tired of wrestling beasts. One runaway goat isn't going to decimate Hyrule.

"Just... stay in bed, and try not to fall out..." says the crazy racist doctor. Why Ilia called this loon when I got knocked out, I will never understand, especially since there is absolutely nothing wrong with me, other than maybe a bruise or two. No broken skin or bones, and now my pockets have been cleared of a hefty amount of rupees for a doctor that did absolutely nothing productive.

He ambles out of my small house, and I hear a slight thud, as if someone had hit the ground. Hard. I chuckle a bit, wondering whether the moron was laying face first in the dirt, hopefully that squirrel I chat with sometimes is smacking him on the head with a rock right about now. I figure you can't exactly have a negative IQ, so maybe a nice whack upside the head will actually raise his a few points, the dumb quack.

I remember tracking a scent to his office- if you could call the cramped, leftover shop space an office at all- with Midna...

Memories. Such a pleasant thing, to look back and see the happy times. But Midna... bitter and sarcastic Midna... no happy memories came. Only those of disappointment and sadness. The closest thing to happiness in regards to those memories was relief, that she was alright, alive, safe...

Colin suddenly steps through the door, holding up a letter. The red wax sealing it shut bears a fancy Z.

"Hello, Colin," I say. He hands me the envelope without a word. "Thanks..." I continue, unsure to be worried or happy about news from Zelda, whom this letter is undoubtedly from, judging by the seal.

I read it silently.

"Dear friend, Link,

I know you have been saddened by the departure of Midna. It goes without words, I could see it in your eyes that day. I am sorry to open this past wound, but I have a mission of sorts for you.

"It seems that another Mirror is in existence.

"Come to the castle-" it continued, but I stopped there. This could very well be the perfect chance to regain the only friend who could understand what happened last year, save or Zelda. But one does not simply waltz into the castle, armed as I am, and ask to see the princess. Even I am not that naive.

Colin looks at me expectantly. Maybe expecting me to tell him what the very... royal looking letter said.

"You remember the stories I told you right? Of my friend Midna?" He nods, so I continue. "Well I have a chance to see her again, and I have to go to Castle Town."

"Can I come? Please? Malo and Talo keep bugging me, asking me to tell them the stories you've told me, and Beth just pretends she's not interested, but I know she wants to know too! Why won't you tell them anyway?"

"I've told you before. When they're more mature, I will. But for now, they'd be coming over asking for wolf-back rides. I've told them the majority, but they can tell I'm leaving things out. You can tell them what I've told you, but not about the wolf thing, please." He nods again, I smile at him, then usher him towards the door. As we exit, Colin climbs down the ladder, I leap and land on my feet. After shaking out the shock in my limbs, I turn and wait for Colin to reach the ground. When he does, I pat him on the shoulder, and shake my head. He knows what I mean by it.

Pulling out the charm Ilia had made me so long ago, I hand it to him.

"You want to do the honors?" I ask him, offering the horse shoe shaped necklace. He plays it as I taught him, and two stout horses, one my mare Epona, the other her little palomino daughter. Telma had offered her black stallion as a sire for Epona's first foal, who was to be given to Colin when she was of age to be ridden. Beth's parents had sent out for a saddle with the rest of their wares, fitted for the little horse, whom Colin had named Sirona at first glance.

"Please?" Colin begs. Who'd have thought the kid would want to travel the land, still so filled with kargoroks and bulbins, despite the lack of greater evil?

"Hmmm... if you can beat me, or hold your own in a mock sword fight, I'll let you come, okay?" He nods eagerly. I scale the ladder, and when I come back to join him again, I carry two wooden swords. I toss him one from the door; he catches the handle with ease. He must be an early teen by now, and should be fine in this situation.

I stand, quickly debating whether to go easy on him. But he charges, swinging the sword high. He hesitates, I back flip and swing my own weapon, but he spins away from the blow. Kid does good, thanks to his swordsman father.

I pause for a second, watching his untrained and haphazard movements. I let my guard down for a second, and he crashes into my side. I shove against him, but he's falling and my balance is completely off. I hit the ground.

"Okay, you can come. As far as the castle, no Twilight Realm."

**Well, tell me what you think in a review. I have no idea whether I will take this story to great lengths, but without feedback it will probably go at a snails pace. I love feedback, and any that you are willing to offer is much appreciated. I don't care about details, if you just wanted to tell me random little things that's fine with me. As long as I get some encouragement then all is well.**

**Also, I would just like to say that the speculation as to Colin's age is that he is between seven and nine years younger than Link. Link is said to be either sixteen or seventeen during the game, so for the purposes of this story, I'm going to go with Link being seventeen at the beginning of the game, and Colin being ten years at that point. Three years later and Link is twenty, Colin is thirteen, which given the setting, would probably be an appropriate age for a teenage boy to begin to drift away from home, wouldn't you say? Just shooting out my opinion here!  
**


	2. On Our Way

**Eeeep! Very, very short chapter! But there was too much action to throw in right away... I have more written but I'll put this up then edit the next one. I just felt the need to throw this one up, especially since I had already saved it and my computer is deciding that it doesn't like Open Office right now. When I get it working I'll gladly get the next one up. Sorry for the scarily short chapter!**

**-L-**

I sit upon Epona's stocky form, Colin beside me. We have been running our horses since yesterday, and we've come to the Kakariko Gorge. I am debating whether to go see the inhabitants of the village and my Goron friends. Colin knows this, and as he trots up beside me, I nod, turning Epona on her haunches and leaping into a canter, Sirona and Colin close behind.

Spurring Epona to a gallop, I draw the Master Sword from its scabbard and slash at an approaching kargorok. It falls easily from the slash given to the bottom of its throat, then the extra hit from Colin. It screams, and I smile. Kids becoming quite the little swordsman, and managed to hit something while riding too.

"We're going to have to jump the gates into the village," I call. I collect Epona's stride so she can make the jump, and soon the gate comes into view. Colin falls into a line behind me, spacing himself out reasonably. I push Epona into a larger stride, and she takes a long spot to the jump, landing a little too close. I rip on the right rein, moving out of Sirona's way as she jumps from a more reasonable distance. Both of us trot into the village.

Renedo greets us, it seems the man was taking a walk. He waves at us, smiling.

"Colin, you can talk with him, I'm going to visit with some of the Gorons." He nods, dismounts Sirona, and begins to speaking to Renedo.

**-M-**

For days now, this has been happening. The circles that used to appear thanks to the Mirror of Twilight have been flickering.

I am worried for the safety of this world and it's parallel.

**-L-**

Our visit to Kakariko was uneventful.

Now we continue to Hyrule castle to meet Zelda, which it seems Colin is extremely enthusiastic about. I don't even listen closely enough anymore. After two days, he's beginning to rant like Malo and Talo, or so it seems.

"There," I say simply, raising a hand from Epona's neck to point at the castle. I click my tongue and spur her forward, standing in the stirrups of my saddle and leaning forward only slightly as she moves, allowing her to extend her stride.

As we come upon the steps to the bridge that leads to Castle Town, I dismount before Epona stops, then slap her lightly on the rump. She trots away, and lowers her head against the resistance of the reins, which are looped over the small horn of the saddle. Colin loops his reins over Sirona's saddle as well, letting the golden filly loose with her dam. We head towards the stone walls, letting the mares graze until we return.


	3. On the Road Again

**Meh. Another short chapter... . I wish I could tell the number of words when I'm writing on my phone.**

**-L-**

Colin waits outside as I speak with Princess Zelda inside the tower.

"We've found another mirror. The sages in the Mirror Chamber felt a presence, and we found what seems to be a spare ten feet below the surface of the sand." Zelda explained.

"Well where is it now?" I ask.

"In the mirror chamber, where it will remain until further notice. But there's a piece missing, and that's why I sent for you, I would've called after we got it working, if possible, but..."

"You need me to search?" Naturally. She nods, and continues. The princess hands me a pictograph.

"This is the location." She says. I glance at the picture. A surreal looking temple looks back at me. The black stone of the enormous building stands out hugely against the brilliant snow. Two towers stand up from the base level, beams which obviously function as hallways angle downward out the sides of said towers, angling back towards the one opposite it. One beam goes across the full length. But now I notice the small slits in the wall, the dark recessed areas in the stone. Not a temple, a fortress.

"Where is this?" I ask Zelda.

"North of Snowpeak. It is part of a different kingdom, that or an unclaimed area. I'm not really sure."

I nod, and grab the Master Sword, Hylian shield and bow. My sling lies on the ground as well, equipped with the many weapons I found while in searching for the Fused Shadows and Twilight Mirror the first time around.

"There have been a lot of reports of keese and other airborne beasts from that direction, especially from the Zora's and our usually oblivious friends at Snowpeak." She is quite right, Yeto and Yeta are somewhat oblivious. The fact that they were complaining about monsters just emphasizes the problem.

"I've already sent several soldiers up to the temple. Their reports say that there are no doors, only archways. I figure that you would be more comfortable there if you're a wolf, just due to the fact that you'll be cold." She states, heading to a painting on the northern wall of the room, across from the door. She takes it off the wall, exposing a small vault. She opens it up and carefully picks up a chain, showing it to me.

A shard of twilight. It was the same or similar to the shard that Zant trapped inside my body in an attempt to kill Midna and leave me unable to help. Zelda begins to lead me down the stairs, and Colin follows, but stays quiet, obviously nervous in the presence of royalty for the first time.

When we get to the bottom of the stairs, we come upon a large door and I nod, showing that I would rather go there in the form she mentions. She hands me the shard, and I take it, immediately falling onto four feet and feeling my bones shift into a canine. Colin jumps, then blinks, eyes going wide with a look of surprise. I give him a look as if to say "what?", then turn back to Zelda.

She notices the chain around my front leg, and gestures to it. "Would you like me to take that off?" I shake my head wildly. I've grown attached to the useless binding, and it reminds me too much of meeting Midna to discard it so easily. The princess gives me an understanding smile and shows me out of the castle and into Hyrule Field through the back entrance. As I leave, I hear Colin's footsteps as he tries to follow, and I turn to see Zelda with a hand across his chest, holding him back. She gives me another smile, and I see Colin sigh.


	4. New Threats

**Even this is shorter than I anticipated. Somehow I keep thinking that my chapters will be amazing, and epically long, but alas, no. I end up with numbers in the triple digits. This angers me. Anyway, I'm surprised I'm able to update today, I might do more chapters actually. I'm doing a horse show this weekend, and I actually showed today and got home early, since my horsey was behaving himself for my low training jumpers, and wasn't too dirty afterward. In case you were wondering, I got 33.575 seconds for my second round, seventh place out of thirteen. Yeayah! First time in the class. *insert excited face here* So enough about my life, let us get back to Link's, shall we? I think so. **

**-L-**

It's been a two day excursion, but I arrive at the location of the mirror shard. I figure that if it's anything like what I've gone through before, this will include a lot of combat, and possibly traps. I test each step carefully, placing a single paw down and pushing down before bearing too much weight on any point.

I make it from the wall surrounding the fortress, which lies about an eighth of a mile from the building, to the equivalent of the front door. My paws are beginning to lose heat, and the blood flow from those areas are making me shiver. I break to a slow run, attempting to get the blood flowing this way. The stone floor is unlikely to give out, but I make sure not to let myself depend on my front or back ends too much in case I need to switch my balance.

I come to a corridor, and turning right, something whizzes past my nose, and the scent of old blood and decay hits me. I look to my left briefly, and I see several bodies, their decomposition slowed by the cold. With my enhanced senses, I hear the whiz of another object coming toward me, and I back flip out of the projectiles path. I look back to my right. A massive, armored monster looks right past me. It's eyes are unseeing, glazed over and dull colored. The creature is quite evidently blind. It carries a crossbow, and a large pot sits next to it, giant arrows inside. I step backwards, but I slip on a patch of ice, and the beast snaps to attention, grabbing an arrow, looking assured as to my location. I imagine the pot is filled with poison, judging by the bitter smell wafting from its direction. And with the size of the arrows, they would indeed throw me, as they had the others who now laid in a pile against the opposite wall, into a impact death against the stone in case the toxins didn't kill fast enough.

I scamper out of the way, attracting the blind creature to another mark. I dash towards it and rip out its throat in one swift motion. It slumps to the ground. I climb over the corpse and through the door behind.

I look above me, and I see a window. It's too high to climb to, but I can see through. I see a mirror, and in the reflection, a piece of another. The piece I came here for.

I growl in frustration and turn back, but stop in my tracks quickly as I remember the picture Zelda showed me earlier.

The twin pillars, angling up and down from tower to tower, and across the top directly across. I turn back and look through the window again. In front of the mirror attached to the ceiling, a hole. I race back to the entrance.

If I can just find my way up to one of the corridors from the interior of one of the towers, I can make my way across the hallway spanning over the hole, and I will be able to reach the shard, of this I am positive.

I turn, bursting from my position and in an almost frenzied action, I begin to run. Not even Epona would be able to match this speed.

I exit the temple, and judge with my eye the best way to reach my destination. I opt for a right hand turn from the entrance, and before long I meet several monsters. They have slits where eyes should be, and eyes where palms of hands should lay unmarred. No nose exists between the lip-less mouth and the would be eyes. Limp, pale skin hangs off the bottom of each creatures face, arms, legs... as if they all lost an excess of weight in a great hurry. There are about seven of them, but at the moment I'm more interested in weaknesses than number.

If I aim for their hands, they won't be able to see. Attacking the legs will, as any other creature, disable them greatly. Without use of a sword or weapon capable of stabbing or shooting, aiming for the heart is out of the question. Throat could work, but by the looks of the choppers on those things I'm not sure I want to be that close to their jaws. I opt for going for the arms and hands, disabling their vision first.

One stumbles towards me first, and the fight begins. I circle to the side and leap into its arm, biting into both forearms at the same time. The monster is helpless, unable to see me, it merely shakes and I rip, its frail limbs dis-attaching easily. This will be simpler than I imagined. I fall to the ground, and another comes up behind and makes to grab for me, but I swing a hind leg under its feet, tripping it and letting it fall to the ground. I scratch across its throat, killing it instantly. It falls back, no blood and no mess, it seems. I spin around and make corpses of the rest as easily as the first. I continue, and engage several more in combat, but they are easy to fall. I come out with only one injury, which will only be a bruise at worst, caused by a pale-man creature that found himself a particularly large stick amidst the cold weather. He was clumsy at best, and only managed to hit me on the back once before he fell like all his friends.

**If anyone can guess where the second monster is from, I shall give you a hypothetical cookie for your knowledge of strange movies. When someone guesses it I will put it on this chapter. Hoorah, now I go work on editing chapter five. =)**


	5. To Obtain

**I thought I would be nice and give you two chapters. So here you go! Hope you like. Yes, I realize that I could have been much more creative with this, but alas, my creativity lacks in the only slots of time that I have to write: six AM bus ride, night time, and in the car when bored. All other time is dedicated to school, riding, and choir, sadly. I haven't even had time to play Zelda for quite some time! Makes me sad and... yeah. Enjoy!**

**-L-**

Standing at the base of a tower and traversing a staircase may be easy. But when said staircase is crumbling to bits, it gets a bit more difficult. When a certain magical imp that usually guides you isn't present, it gets downright painful.

For now, I sit at the base, quite aware that an impatient look is on my face. It feels like I'm watching paint dry, or waiting for the damn treacherous thing to just fucking fall down like I know it will eventually.

Soon though, I coax myself into getting a running jump up the first few steps, closing the distance easily and keeping the pace. The next gap is even easier, though slightly more nerve wracking as I discover that if I fall, there's no getting back up thanks to the last platform which crumbled away after my takeoff. I run faster, careful not to get strung out. I spot to distances easily from afar and adjust accordingly. None are as horrible as I believed they would be.

Until I got here.

A massive gap extends, the last one until the top. Just my luck. Two jumps would clear it, if only there was a strip of stone between. An idea slowly pops into my head as I ponder the problem. It isn't logical, but I can't turn back now.

I go as far from the gap as I can, all the way to the start of the fairly long expanse of sold stone before the massive gap. My last thought before carrying out my crazy plan:

For Midna.

I run as fast as I can handle, and hurl myself into the open air, straight towards the wall.

With all my strength, I shove off the wall, feeling the cold, rough stone scrape viciously against the pads of my paws. I turn myself in the air, feeling so vulnerable, and I latch onto the edge.

I've made it.

I pull myself up with as much force as I can muster, which a surprising amount thanks to the reason I'm doing all of this.

**-L-**

The path is smooth from here. No creatures dwell in the upper corridors, the staircases must have proved treacherous for the myriad of beasts around. I trot quickly with short, bouncy strides toward the center. A triangular hole lies in the center of the elevated hallway, a thick rope ladder folded at the top of each equal side. I push all three down.

Climbing the ladders rungs is much harder on four legs, let me tell you. With teeth and paws, I get close enough to the bottom to drop without problems.

I turn, and the shard is in my reach. But as I make my way towards it, a large brutish creature grabs for it instead, holding it in a chubby hand. He looks at me, face flat and looking somewhat squished upward. A troll of some sort? It resembles a large, clumsy toddler, as do its antics. It stumbles towards me, grabbing me around the torso, simply staring at me with dumfounded eyes and a confused expression. I growl, and it looks angered slightly, and shakes me a bit, then throws me against the nearest wall. Sliding down the stone, I glare at it as well as I can. It sets the mirror back on its pedestal, and gives me another angry look. It trudges over to where I lay still, laughs and turns, putting its big ass not to far from my head. I spring into action.

Jumping from my fake death, I scale the trolls back, up to its neck and scratching viciously. It stands, trying to shake me off, but only increases its problem as I latch on, claws gliding through its thin skin as it struggles. I'm suddenly grabbed by a giant hand, once again around the torso, and it brings me towards its face to look at me. Obviously its eyesight isn't the greatest. Teeth sink into the index finger of the hand containing me, and the thing lets go, and stumbles back, head smashing against the wall, me following. I aim for the neck and rip out the throat. Like the other monsters encountered here, no blood flows. Just as well.

Heading for the table on which the mirror shard sits, I sigh with relief. This has been easier than many other temples or areas I've scoured to find things. I place my paws on the edge and tilt my head to the right, canine teeth grabbing around the shard. Time to head back.

**-L-**

Coming back was uneventful, other than a very excited Yeto believing I'm a tasty treat. Yeta seemed to agree. I ran, obviously. Now I'm in front of the castle, waiting for Zelda to venture outside at the scheduled time to check for me, as I can't exactly enter the town like this.

I see a woman clad in pink and white and a boy venturing towards me. Zelda and Colin. I begin to wag my tail, and I see Zelda laugh a bit.

As they approach, I stand and Zelda holds out a palm, into which I drop the shard. Colin looks confused, but says nothing. Zelda does something, but it's too dark and I'm not paying attention enough to notice, but suddenly I'm on two legs again. I crack my neck to each side.

"Well that was a change of pace," I state with a smile. Zelda laughs.

**-L-**

Later I find that the obsidian slate and the rest of the mirror has been transported to the castle, into a large, outdoor but gated courtyard by some means that I probably wouldn't understand if I asked.

It's time.

Zelda slips the shard in, and two guards bring Sirona and Epona. I shoot Zelda a questioning look and she shrugs.

"I figured you'd want them."

"Colin's not coming-" Zelda puts a hand up in protest.

"Just let him go. If you don't he won't be able to do anything without worrying. That's how he was when you were gone." I sigh, indicating my submission to the princesses order. I take Epona's rein and Colin takes Sirona's, and we all step up the stairs to the circle on the obsidian. I'm slightly worried about how this will work with Colin here, and almost even more worried about how the horses will fare in the Twilight Realm.

**Can you guess where my "Boss" is from? Imaginary virtual cookies to anyone who can. Again, I'll put it up when someone guesses. Many chapters coming after my horse show! I already have them typed, my friends!**


	6. Surprise

**OH MY GOODNESS! It's what you all have been waiting for, the reunion, correct? Well, here goes! My horse show is over, exciting stuff, and I managed to get a lot written during the hour every morning of listening to my mom argue with our GPS on the way to the farm. So, here goes! **

**-M-**

Something is wrong. The circles and patterns where the mirror used to be have been flickering for some time now, but they are solidly there at this point. I stand outside the palace, quite worried about the state of the worlds, confused as to the meaning of this.

Tiny black squares begin to materialize, and I see the forms of six pairs of legs begin to form.

Soon I notice that four of the sets are equine, hooves and feathered fetlocks evident as more of the legs form. Strange. But I soon see a familiar form begin to appear, and a somewhat less familiar, but still known figure next to it.

Link. Standing to his left is Colin, one of the village kids. Each stand next to a large draft horse, one that I know to be Epona and the other that I don't recognize.

How could he do this?

Link looks at me, and quickly hands over his steed to the boy next to him. The boy looks around in awe, but stays put. Link runs towards me and pulls me into a tight hug, not allowing me any room to move.

He let's go, and I look at him, head shaking slightly. I raise a hand and slap him across the face.

After the impact, he looks at me, hand over his left cheek, a pained look in his blue eyes.

"How dare you come here? After I specifically cut off our worlds, because they can't be connected! I can't believe you would assemble the mirror, after I made a point of destroying it!" I screech, angered by his lack of attention to my actions. Or at least that's what I wish was going on. I've realized something today.

I'm a much better actress than I previously assumed.

On the inside, I'm overjoyed to see him. But I just can't bring myself to believe that after all that happened, having our worlds connected is the right thing. Me acting like I'm glad to see him will only make it harder for both of us when I make him leave.

I shove him back up the hill, towards the portal once again. He tries to resist, but I can tell he's holding back, probably for fear that he might hurt me, or just because of confusion concerning the situation.

I knock him down onto the circle, and use my magic to trigger the portal to take them back. But Link reaches out, grabbing my hand gently, and the portal takes him, and by default, me, myself, and I.

**-M-**

It felt like a long time, as we shifted through the mirror. But something we did not expect, however, was the current streaming and flashing of multicolored shapes around us. They seemed to form profiles, profiles and clocks.

My eyes are shut tight, and Link's hand is still closed around mine, and even though I'm trying to push him away for the best, I can't bring myself to let go, simply for fear of the situation.

No one says anything, or maybe I can't hear them because of the constant droning noise around us.

I feel like I'm falling, yet the air is too still for us to be doing so. This is quite the strange sensation, quite the strange situation. Suddenly, it feels like we should be impacting against the ground any second, but we float to the ground somehow. I attempt to shake my hand from Link's grasp, but he holds it tightly. Sighing, I let him continue to do so with the understanding that he's ignorant to how hard this will make things later.

Taking the reins of his mare from the thirteen year old Colin, he begins to stride forward, across a shallow pond and towards a tunnel.

"Link!" The teenage boy yells, leading his golden horse to the corner of the area. He points, and Link pulls me along with him as he walks over. A pile of what appear to be masks lies there, but three stand out from the rest, placed carefully on the floor next to the immense pile.

A Goron, a Zora, and what appears to be of some relation to the Great Deku Tree in the Hyrulean legends of old that I learned briefly about during my last 'visit' to Hyrule.

**-L-**

I finally have her back. I finally have her back, and the first thing she does is slap me. She's right, I defied her wishes, went against her say in what happened three years ago. But doesn't it matter that I've missed her? That the past three years have been hell, or actually quite the opposite, because the flames were gone. The fiery red of her hair, her eyes, her brilliant personality, her passion for whatever needed to be done, her compassion despite the initial impression. It was all gone.

I could have had anyone. I could have had Ilia, I could have had one of the many women in Castle Town, I've even heard rumors about myself and Princess Zelda sprouting from bored townsfolk that see a man go into the castle occasionally and immediately think "scandalous".

I can't say that none of them were good enough. Just that they didn't fit, while Midna always had. She always knew right where to place herself so that she wasn't in my way, knew exactly what to do to help even without needing verbal cues. I knew her, we could read each other. We knew when the other was having a bad day, we were always there for each other. Most of our journeys with each other were due to the fact that we would do inconvenient things to help one another.

Going to retrieve the mirror shard wasn't for her. It was selfish, and that's probably her view now.

I lean over towards her, whispering my best apology in her ear. She lets out a "hmph" and turns her attention back to Colin and the masks.

He holds one of the lonesome three masks to me. I place the one resembling some sort of tree to my face, and it immediately sticks, and I can't pull it off.

I drop Midna's hand, grabbing for the mask, but the strange sensation ceases, and suddenly I'm viewing the world from a much shorter standpoint than even my wolf form.

Both Midna and Colin both stare in astonishment.

"What?" I ask, but the voice sounds different. It's not mine, somehow.

Colin finally snaps out of his trance, and starts to shove me towards the shallow water. I look down, and the wooden creature, that I know recognize as a Deku scrub, from the mask looked back at me. Not only my face resembles the creature, but my entire body. I reach for the mask again, and make to pull it off, and it comes off easily, but the strange sensation comes back and soon I'm standing a few heads above Colin once again.

"Wow." I say, surprised. I trudge over to the pile again, picking up the one that shows a Goron, and putting it on my face. The shifting of bodies is somewhat painful, but I'm quite used to it thanks to my wolf transformations.

This time, I'm far taller than either Midna or Colin, and it's almost instinct as I curl into a ball and roll as I've seen Gorons at Death Mountain do countless times before.

I strip the mask off, and hand it to Colin.

"Wanna try?" I ask, and he quickly takes it and puts it on. I can tell the transformation was more difficult for him than it was for me.

He rolls around in the new form for some time, then takes the mask off and hands it back to me.

"These could be useful later." I look at Midna, and she takes my meaning. She snaps two fingers together and all of the masks disappear with several bursts of small squares. Colin jumps at the action. I figure I should explain everything to him.

"Colin, this is Midna. Midna, you already know Colin from Ordon and the sanctuary at Kakariko. Midna is a Twili, so she has magic and the ability to warp things in and out of areas, and... well, actually I have no idea how she stores things."

Midna takes up the conversation after that.

"I transport it somewhere else. Someplace that I always have magical access to. I can't tell you where though, very difficult to explain..." I nod in understanding, as does Colin.

"Well I suppose we should be going." I say, but while talking I see something glint in the corner of my eye. Turning, I begin to walk. An ocarina, I notice. Solid light blue, and looking somewhat weathered. I pick it up and...

**-L-**

I'm standing in a courtyard. I see a young girl in pink and purple past my blond hair. Wait, blond? My hair isn't blond, but light brown. I look down and notice that I'm wearing a less worn out version of the hero's tunic, the very same that I've been wearing for quite some time. The girl turns and calls me by name.

"Link... you're leaving aren't you?" I nod, though I have no control over the action.

"Then take this, to remind you of everything that has happened.

"I know we only met a short time ago, but I feel I've known you forever. Play this song and remember." She plays a tune that I somehow recognize as A, D, F, A, D, F. She hands me the ocarina, which I automatically know how to play, and I play the song she taught. I look up at her, and her face looks extremely familiar. I recognize her as Princess Zelda, but one other than the princess that I know. I recognize this one from one of the many portraits of old rulers that hang in the castle. I realize that I'm seeing a memory, a memory of a past hero, who had a similar part in Hyrule that I've had. Many memories flash after this one, each holding the teachings of a song, played on the ocarina, sometimes drums, guitar, or horn, depending on the olden hero's form at the time.

So much information, so much of this legend I've become a part of explained in the flashes. This has all happened before, I'm now assured of the fact that I'm not the first hero chosen by the goddesses.

**-M-**

He collapsed, after picking up the strange instrument. He still holds it in his hand, but his body is limp, and he isn't responding to our panicked words.

And as quickly as he passed out, he wakes up, and immediately looks at the instrument, and brings it to his lips, playing a tune that is engraved into my memory, the same song he's played so many times on that horse grass he uses to summon his steed. Both horses rush to where he's standing, ears tipped forward.

He smiles, and pockets the instrument.

**-R-  
**

"The mayor-" I say, but he cuts me off.

"You don't understand the situation. Whether the mayor has any influence on the rest of the people of Termina or not, we can't concern ourselves with whatever he's trying to do."

"He's trying to make himself a king! He's demoting everyone below him, and making sure that no one can do anything about it!" I screech.

"This is not a matter that... someone like you should be concerning themselves with."

"Fine then. I quit! I'll take care of this problem on my own!" My voice gets dangerously high, but the man doesn't notice.

I leave the room, exiting the building and untethering my horse. The man I argued with races after me on foot. I mount my little black stallion and turn him quickly on his haunches and galloping across the stone.

I'll solve this problem myself...

**Well, I'm trying to be different by not having Midna be all mushy and "OMG LINK YOU'RE BACK!" No flames for that por favor ^.^*... Anyway, I would have quoted the memory from Majora's Mask more exactly, if I could find a decent script, but alas (yes, I do in fact, love that word), I can't find a good one. And also, I would have preferred to have them find the masks and stuff in a more... shall we say... intricate... way, yet I didn't want the story to be focused on the same thing as the game, finding the insane amount of magical masks. I did want to incorporate them, though. I'm going to try to edit the next chapter and maybe give you another one tonight, but it might not come until later. My horse gets a week off after shows, so I'll have time, but now I have to ride both my horse and a horse for another woman at my barn, so after the week is done, I might have less time to update, though I'll still try to get chapters up in a timely fashion!**

**And who is this mysterious new character?! Well, the plot is actually starting to develop, which makes me happy, xD. I actually drew a picture of -R- in my sketchbook. Also, since I am too lazy to update previous chapters, the creepy monster from my lame-o dungeon (Chapter 4) was the Banquet Master from Pan's Labyrinth. Shoutout to **** ACEAMC who guessed it! The monster from chapter five, my "boss" was based off of the cave troll from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, when the fellowship is in Bali's tomb in Moria. I'll give spaced links for picture of both.**

**h t t p : / / w w w . m o v i e s o n l i n e . c a / m o v i e - g a l l e r y / a l b u m s / u s e r p i c s / / P a n s L a b y r i n t h 2 . j p g**

**h t t p : / / n e w s . b b c . c o . u k / n o l / s h a r e d / s p l / h i / p o p _ u p s / 0 3 / e n t e r t a i n m e n t _ l o r d _ o f _ t h e _ r i n g s _ e x h i b i t i o n / i m g / 1 . j p g**

**These are images taken from Google images, and I don't own or claim to own them. **


	7. Enter Ryker

**I put some Colin in here, but seeing as he isn't that... important... yet, there isn't much to say about him, or from his point of view. Just showing you all that he's not completely useless... Heh. So anyway, I drank too much coffee before going to sleep yesterday night, so I decided to write while waiting to actually fall asleep. Longest chapter yet I believe! Still short though... Grrr... Yeah... So enjoy, review, the usual. You know the drill, people. xD**

**-L-**

We emerge from a tower, leading the horses up the stairs to the door was quite the pain. We immediately exit the city, because of the ushering of a soldier who tells us "horses are not allowed within the town walls". We comply, leading the horses out, and his final words tell us that there's a ranch, Romani Ranch, near the town. We head towards the road he showed us, on horseback of course. Midna gets on Epona, but objects to riding with me, instead pulling out another shard of twilight from who-knows-where, and turns me into a wolf against my will. I run alongside Epona and Sirona.

We come to a small path, and enter a vast ranch. Several cows wander around the land, and a house stands alone. Midna dismounts Epona and changes me back, just in time, before we see a cloaked figure on a black horse canter over a small hill.

"State your business here, strangers." The cloaked figure says calmly, reins held in one hand and an odd looking sword in the other. The person looks young by the size, and I figure it is a teenage boy, the voice somewhat high. Besides, this society seems to match Hyrule's, and in Hyrule a woman, especially a young one, would not typically be allowed to carry such weapons as this stranger. Ashei and Zelda are the only women who I've ever seen bear weapons.

Colin is quiet, as is Midna, who looks at the ground. I answer.

"We've just arrived, and we need someplace to stay for a bit while we figure out where to go from here, and we were told to come here for a place for our horses. Do you own this place?"

"No. I'm here for the same reason as you. Temporary shelter. The owner is in that house up there."

"Thank you..." I say, waiting for the other to finish the sentence with a name.

"I go by the title of Ryker, you may call me such. This is Figaro." He leaned down and patted the horses thick neck. "And you are?"

I answer again, since no one else makes a move to do so. "My name is Link. This is Midna and Colin, and our horses are Epona and Sirona." I follow his lead in addressing our horses as well.

"Follow me, Link, I will introduce you and your companions to the owner of Romani."

He leads us up the hill, walking his small black horse slowly so as to not get to far ahead of us, who are dismounted from our horses.

Ryker dismounts the tiny black stallion, cloak flaring up as he hits the ground. The approximately fifteen hand horse throws his head, forelock flying upward to reveal a white diamond.

He spots me looking at his horse, and goes around to the front of the steed.

"He bears the mark of luck, a diamond on the forehead." he says, pointing a finger to outline the soft lines of white on black. "Unfortunately he also bears the mark of the insane, a double facial cowlick." He chuckles lightly and points to the twin twists in the horses coat, slightly interrupted by a criss-crossed war styled bridled.

I smile, and he takes his reins again, and knocks on the door. It opens, causing Figaro to jump and shoot his head towards it.

"Hello, Ryker, dear. Do you need something?" Says a red headed woman.

"These travelers need lodging for a time. They travel with two horses, there are three of them." Ryker explains to the woman.

"Yes, yes, very well." She steps out of the small house, and dips her head in a silent greeting. She looks us over, and then speaks.

"My name is Ellyzibeth. You may call me Lyzi if you so choose. You may tether your horses over there, or allow them to graze if you're sure they won't run off. Ryker's stallion will be in this pen, so there is no risk of... problems... between them." I nod, understanding her meaning at the word "problems".

"Do you mind staying outside? Our visitors usually stay outdoors..." she asked hesitantly. I nod again, knowing that we would be intruding otherwise. This is obviously not an inn, so we've got to take what we can get.

**-R-**

"Lyzi, you can't expect me to be able to maintain what you're advising me to do!" I would have shouted, if not for the odd strangers sitting under the lean-to just outside.

"You're strong. They can help you! You saw those men! Well, that man and that boy. Each bore a sword, both wore chain mail. They didn't look like soldiers, but warriors. Although I'm not too sure of that woman..." Lyzi glares at me with an insistent look. She always had a knack for not letting me back out of anything of importance. I have to remember to thank her for that at some point.

"And how would it work? Being me is to not be me. They'll find out, they won't understand!"

"Ryker, you've been invisible all this time. You really expect three strangers to finally see something that friends haven't recognized? What are you afraid of?" She asks, her voice horribly gentle.

"Me." I answer simply. She takes the meaning instantly.

Turning to exit the house, I open and slam the door. Two of the strangers look up, the ones called Link and Colin. The blue-hued woman by the name of Midna stands perfectly still, leaned against the corner between the house and the side of the shelter.

I try to notice little things about them, the way the mans worn tunic compliments his hair, the way both males chain mail catches the smallest bit of sun, the way the strange woman seems to not want to look at either of them, and how the other boy seems disconnected from the woman.

"So you three are traveling? For what reasons?"

**-C-**

The other boy still wears the cloak from before. A quiver remains strapped to his back, scabbard for the strange sword, which bulged outward and revealed a hole in the middle, attached near the quiver and bow. There's something strange about him, but I can't pinpoint what. He's smaller than me, by height and by the looks of him, by muscle mass as well. I say nothing as he exits the house, but as he sits across from me in the shelter, he starts to speak.

"I need to talk to you three." He begins, somewhat nervously. Link and Midna's attention snaps to Ryker, as does mine. Link nods, the evident leader of our "group", with perhaps the most experience with this sort of thing.

"The state of Termina is a horrid one, at the least. The Mayor is corrupting the minds of the Dekus, Gorons, and the Zoras. Somehow he managed to get to the leaders of all three races and convince them to side with him. Seeing as the Dekus hate anyone of any race different from their own, it's unbelievable they would agree. The Gorons are stubborn and, for the most part, independant. The Zoras wouldn't agree either. He hasn't reached the pirates yet, but it's almost garunteed that he will try. They, I'm sure, will not side with him, so I need to get there myself and persuade them myself. I need help with that part." He stops, and I can't tell what Link is thinking.

**-L-**

Pirates. At least we know there are some familiar races here, yet the presence of a new group makes me nervous.

"What say you?" Ryker prods. I nod, still staying quiet.

"Thank you." Now I look up, for some reason not expecting such a reaction to my agreement.

"When will we be departing?" I ask, expecting him to be all for leaving right now.

"Tomorrow will be as good a time as any. I'm sure you will want to rest, and I sure as hell need to as well." He says nothing more, leaning against the wall behind him and closing his eyes, cloak still covering his face

The sun sets soon after our conversation.

**-M-**

Departing tomorrow. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep won't come. I lay against the corner, but find it extremely uncomfortable. I open my crimson eyes, to find myself staring at Link, only a few feet to my left. I entertain the thought of moving closer to him under the guise that "I was sleeping, I couldn't control my actions". But even such a ruse would lead the stubborn hero to believe I subconsciesly wanted to be near him. So I simply stare at him, hoping sleep would carry me away.

"Midna, is it?" a voice inquires, and I turn to see Ryker to the right of me, across from Colin. I nod, looking away.

"May I speak to you, away from here?" I give the teenager a questioning look, then shrug and rise to my feet to follow. He leads me to a small door, then opens it and gestures for me to go through.

"You seem angry with one of those boys, the one called Link, correct?" He asks. I say and do nothing, looking at the ground.

"Okay, different question, but I'm not blind, you make your... feelings... quite obvious. Where are you all from?" I see it reasonable to answer this inquiry.

"They are from the kingdom Hyrule."

"And you?" This boy is annoyingly persistent.

"An entirely different world." Ryker looks at me expectantly, wanting an explanation of my words. I shake my head.

"If I tell you a secret of mine, will you explain this world to me? My life depends on my secret, and I need to know I can trust all of you. I will test them eventually as well." I am somewhat shocked by this offer, but I nod. Ryker whispers something in my right ear, and my eyes widen. I explain the Twilight Realm, its inhabitants, leaving out the part about Link's canine transformations, unsure if he would be comfortable sharing that with a stranger.

**-R-**

After telling Midna about myself, I got a satisfying little bedtime story about an alternate world, where Twili replaced humans, where the sun never sets or rises, because there is no definite sun, only sols to illuminate the world, and a state of half-light is forever present. It sounded beautiful. Now we wake, back in the shelter we returned to. I am the first to do so, and I retrieve Figaro from his pen, away from my new companions' mares. I get an idea, and after tacking up my own five foot black stallion, Link's seventeen hand, or five foot eight, red palomino, and Colin's five foot seven light palomino mare, I tethered the mares loosely a short bit away from the shelter.

Figaro has always been quite the curious horse, always trying to poke his nosy little schnoz where it doesn't belong. So I'll give him the satisfaction for once.

I lead him a bit under the shelter, which has no door, making the action quite easy. I give him a loose rein, and he lowers his head to the level of Link's face, twitching his upper lip against the mans forehead. The horse moves his attention upwards, towards the green hat. I have a feeling as to where this is going, but I do nothing.

Link twitches a bit, and reaches to brush Figaro's long whiskers off his face. Figaro pulls his lips back, revealing teeth, and pulls the hat right off Link's head. The man wakes up, jumping to his feet. He pats his head, then turns to me. I simply point to my horse.

Figaro turns to me as well, hitting me in the face with the green hat as he shakes his head up and down vertically, showing me his prize in such an obnoxious manner. It's one of the things you want to find annoying, but just can't because it's just too cute.

"Hey, give it back!" Link shouts, waking his friends. Midna smirks, and Colin bursts into laughter. Link grabs for his hat, but Figaro raises his head quickly at the action, eyes widening to show white, head turning toward me to keep his new toy out of Links reach. Link gives up momentarily, but when the horses head is lowered, Link begins the cycle again. I raise a hand in a motion for him to cease.

"Alright, alright, Fig, you've had your fun. That's enough for now." I pat his nose, and pull gently at the cap. He doesn't react, so I place a hand under his chin and put a thumb in the side of his mouth, reaching it through an area with no teeth and tickling the horses tongue, causing him to open his mouth. I catch the hat on its way to the ground, the hand it back to Link.

"Your horses are tethered right over there," I point, still chuckling a bit at the prank. Link puts the hat on, and wet teeth marks are present on the fabric resting on his forehead.

"That's the first time in a long time that I've seen him without that stupid hat," Midna whispers to me as both Link and Colin traipse over to where their horses are tethered.

**-R-**

We've left Romani, headed for the pirates lair. Heading due west from Clock Town, where we stopped for only a short time, we move toward the Great Bay Coast. Both me and Colin ride alone, and Link and Midna both sit on Epona, who is coincidentally the largest- in both height and bulk, thus able to carry more. Midna displays a look on her blue hued face that she has been unwillingly thrown into an awkward situation, though Link doesn't seem to notice.

Midna wears a pair of riding breaches designed for a woman, and a dark grey tunic that is slightly too large for her. I explained the pirates lifestyle to them before we left, and managed to convince Midna that wearing her bright red hair up would confuse them if they saw her from a distance, perhaps enough to think us friends. Hopefully it will be enough.

**Enter -R-. Ryker is my OC, as is Ryker's steed. I felt the need to throw in at least one OC that isn't associated with the enemy... Heh. You'll meet them later. So far though, I have more horse OC's than human ones, but all will be well in later chapters. =) Review por favor!**


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